Just five years ago, at age 14, Charli XCX was all glittered up at London warehouse parties and performing original songs like "Dinosaur Sex". The hook? "T-Rex! Dinosaur sex!/ T-Rex! Dinosaur sex!" she gamely recalls on the phone from the UK. "It wasn't exactly groundbreaking." Now 19, Charli's music has matured a bit. The singer and keyboardist released two ace singles this year, "Stay Away" and "Nuclear Seasons", both pushing a goth-tinged style she simply calls "dark pop." These lovelorn tracks prettify the scuzzy semi-genre known as witch house with crisp 80s synths and Charli's radio-ready vocals, which manage to sound simultaneously polished and creaky.

The talented teenager is currently attending London's Slade School of Fine Art while finishing up her as-yet-untitled debut album (tentatively due out this spring) with producers Ariel Rechtshaid (Glasser) and Patrik Berger (Robyn). She's also working on a soundtrack to the upcoming British indie film Elfie Hopkins, directed by Ryan Andrews, who also helmed her recent "Nuclear Seasons" video. Watch that clip and read our Q&A below.

Pitchfork: When did you start playing music?

Charli XCX: I was about 14. I was quite ambitious and really knew I wanted to make an album, so I spoke to my father about it and he said he'd fund the album as long as I paid him back in the future, which I've done now. I did the album by myself and one of the guys who was running a lot of parties in East London warehouses at the time found me on Myspace. So I just started playing those parties-- me and and iPod, dressed up fucking weird, running around with glitter everywhere-- for a year and built up a bit of a name in that scene. I was living outside of London, so sometimes I'd just end up staying there until six in the morning. I used to do a lot of nursery-rhyme rap stuff and pretend to be a five year old and make up beats with a Yamaha keyboard. My style has changed, but the way I perform-- everyone just being mental-- came from that whole scene.

"I was really obsessed with the Spice Girls, though I look back and think, 'Oh my god those songs are atrocious.' But I'm still repping for the 90s platform heel."

Pitchfork: So your parents let you go to these all-night parties at 14?

XCX: Yeah, sometimes they would come along and dress up-- they're really into vintage Alice in Wonderland-themed stuff, so my dad was always dressed as a Mad Hatter. He was a promoter who used to put on a lot of punk bands like Siouxsie Sioux in this club where we lived. I think he put on Bob Marley before he was massive as well.

Pitchfork: What kind of music did you grow up listening to?

XCX: I was just really obsessed with the Spice Girls, though I look back and think, "Oh my god, those songs are atrocious." But the fashion is amazing-- I'm still repping for the 90s platform heel.

I used to film myself singing Spice Girls songs into hairbrushes, it was a bit much. [laughs] I had sort of a fro, so whenever me and my friends used to dress up like them, they would make me be Scary Spice, which really upset me. I really wanted to be Baby Spice, but I never got to do that. Oh my god, what a sad childhood! [laughs]

Pitchfork: Is there anyone else you can think of who's making this sort of dark pop you're aiming for at the moment?

XCX: Lykke Li could be in that bracket, but I can't really think of anyone else. I mean, there's Zola Jesus, who is really dark but not pop at all. And the Knife are just generally weird. If there's a gap, I'd totally be happy to fill it.